Last week, I shared a post about fear entitled, Do Not Be Afraid: Dream, Pursue, & Jump. And one of my readers, Matt S., doctored one of my photos to give me Neo-like skills.
For the past year, my biggest fear has been this burden and conviction that I feel God has placed upon my soul to engage the fight against extreme global poverty through the birth of a new organization.
I have been kicking myself for going public with the vision about a year ago. There’s been hiccups, setbacks, criticisms, and plenty of self doubt but after a year since sharing our vision and starting a group on Facebook, I’ll finally be sharing the name of our organization, current logo, and our vision and fundraising letter this Friday.
As usual, I’m both excited and scared and covet your prayers.
I came home yesterday having doubts if I was ready to share the vision but lo and behold, I received my confirmation in the mail. We finally received our 501(c)(3) issuance from the Internal Revenue Services:
We are pleased to inform you that upon review of your application for tax exempt status we have determined that you are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to you are deductible…
Cool timing. [My wife’s response after learning we got the green light from the IRS: “Now, you can finally cut your hair!”]
I want to publicly thank our organization’s lawyer, Nat Taylor, from Ellis, Li & McKinstry. He is a fabulous non-profit lawyer and if you’re looking for someone to help with your organization, I highly recommend him. It’s a worthwhile financial investment – which I should have taken from the beginning.
In addition, our poverty Facebook group has now surpassed 700,000 people. Truthfully, I’ve never been so excited to be $700,000 in debt but if our vision catches on, we’re excited to be able to invest those funds and more in people and organizations who are doing some amazing work.
If you haven’t done so, subscribe to the blog RSS feed or check back on Friday to learn more about our vision and how we intend to do our part to fight extreme global poverty. Even if you don’t have any interest in making a donation to help make some initial investments in our organization, I’d love for you to read what we’re trying to do.
And now, the real hard labor begins…
EUGENE CHO 
congratulations PE! very good news!
This is wonderful news!!
wonderful wonderful news, pastor Eugene! God bless you and Minhee for your faithfulness and obedience. This is very exciting news!
Too cool! I know you’re gonna make a difference!
Congrats!
congrats! what a blessing.
Yay! Congratulations! Our God is so faithful.
And yes, finally you can cut your hair! We are all with Minhee on that one!
yoopee!!!!
sooooo excited for the next step in this journey of yours! and i say …. keep the hair. it ain’t so bad!
me and samohnim are on the same page! that was my first thought too!!! can i be the one to schedule an appointment? or should i just bring some shears and clippers into the office today??? 😉
Congratulations Pastor E! Wonderful news!
congrats p.e.!! praise God!
Congratulations!!
Whoohoo!
amen! that’s great man; way to persevere. “God is not done with us” is what one friend recently said 😉 sounds like your own words are a fitting encouragement for your endeavor.
and let me know if I can help in any way.
this requires a..
WOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!
Eugene, this is such fantastic news! God’s timing is perfect! God bless you!
Congratulations! Way to persevere.
I’m pretty good at cutting AZ’s hair. I just stick a no. 2 on the buzzer and just go at it. I’d be happy to do yours for free. I could even get you back to your wedding look!
Congratulations!
Congratulations Eugene~! When we follow what the Lord puts on our hearts, how can we fail? Inspires me to pursue what the Lord is burdening my heart with…
Rock On. Now the party can really get started 🙂
Congratulations PE and Minhee! Can’t wait to see the haircut 🙂
@everyone:
minhee didn’t read the fine print. i said i’d cut the hair once we “officially launched” the org. 🙂
re: the haircut. I can refer you to a good barber… me! and I know only one style…
eugene- supporting that massive bush of hair in back must be making your neck muscles stronger. seems like a backwards way to go about strength training, but I do appreciate your creativity.
That is great news! It’s so great to know everything is official. I am really looking forward to being a part of this movement and following along on this journey…
Eugene – Congrats! What a journey it’s already been. Can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make.
For the record, I’m putting my vote in for a man-perm. With the length of your hair, it’ll be a pretty massive blowout 🙂
Congratulations. I’m following on facebook. I look forward to more on this. I’ve worked with the homeless and others. I think an initiative like this takes a lot of faith and I’m sure God will honor it.
http://www.squidoo.com/gospelpoverty
Congratulations.
looking forward to friday.
congrats Eugene! I am excited to see where it heads and totally get the balancing act that faith, fear, and following the pursuit of justice into the dark sometimes requires. I am praying for your work! 🙂
well looks like its time get some work done eh?
Let’s make Poverty AND Mr. Smith History!